Evidence for mass ejection associated with long secondary periods in red giants

Approximately 30% of luminous red giants exhibit a long secondary period (LSP) of variation in their light curves in addition to a shorter primary period of oscillation. The cause of the LSP has so far defied explanation: leading possibilities are binarity and a nonradial mode of oscillation. Here, large samples of red giants in the Large Magellanic Cloud both with and without LSPs are examined for evidence of an 8 or 24 μm mid-IR excess caused by circumstellar dust. It is found that stars with LSPs show a significant mid-IR excess compared to stars without LSPs. Furthermore, the near-IR J - K color seems unaffected by the presence of the 24 μm excess. These findings indicate that LSPs cause mass ejection from red giants and that the lost mass and circumstellar dust is most likely in either a clumpy or a disk-like configuration. The underlying cause of the LSP and the mass ejection remains unknown.